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World at Prayer blog
Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
Faith Reflection | Hope-2025 | Jubilee of Hope | power of prayer
This Jubilee year reminds us that we are pilgrims of Hope on a journey to encounter God. In joyful anticipation, we trust in God’s promise of salvation. We walk through life with the hope of heaven, a hope that comes from the Lord through the Holy Spirit. In his first letter to early Christians, Saint Peter urged them to remain faithful despite threats of suffering, encouraging them: “Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope” (1 Peter 3:15).
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Faith Reflection | Hope-2025 | Jubilee of Hope | power of prayer
Pope John Paul II introduced the Luminous Mysteries to the world with the publication of Rosarium Virginis Mariae in 2002. It changed my life in many ways, and the foundation for that change was praying the Holy Rosary. I’d like to say that I took up the Rosary on my own, but it was an invitation to pray that I could not deny. My daughter came home from a retreat on fire for the Rosary and invited me to join her. My family life and professional demands created an undercurrent of chaos. I can look back on that time with a certain measure of nostalgia. It was the typical chaos one would expect from three teenagers in the house and two working adults. But chaos often picks away at the spirit, and while I wasn’t feeling hopeless, I didn’t have the experience in my faith to understand that the emptiness and yearning I was feeling would be ameliorated with hope in Jesus Christ. First, I had to get to that place of understanding that would lead to trust. The Rosary became the bridge to hope. I couldn’t remember the last time I had prayed the Rosary,
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Faith Reflection | Hope-2025 | Jubilee of Hope | power of prayer
I was barely a teenager when I became chronically ill. It was just before my 13th birthday, lining up in the school hall, completely oblivious that my world was about to change and all my hopes and dreams were about to vaporize. Within 20 minutes, I was experiencing symptoms that gradually became worse, and I was eventually bedridden. I missed about three months of school, and although I ultimately returned to school, I continued to struggle with attending full-time. My friends informed me that the school had held a meeting with the entire Year 7 grade, during which the school counsellor explained that I was unwell and that when I returned, everyone was to treat me with kindness and say hello.
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Faith Reflection | Hope-2025 | Jubilee of Hope | power of prayer
There are times when life catches us off guard, and we want to shrivel and run from the messiness. In the moment, none of it makes sense — whether it’s a family illness, a miscarriage, a business disaster, or spiritual attacks. With our limited intellect, we want an explanation and a solution to the problems. It’s easier to simplify the problem, find a quick solution, and wrap it in a pretty box with a bow, only to hide it in a closet, than to see the bigger picture. But these “quick fixes” only push the problem down the road for a different day. Sometimes we find an earthly solution to the problem while ignoring the difficulties as gifts from God for the cultivation of our souls towards sainthood. It’s hard to imagine the loss of a baby, the illness of a family member, or financial strains as gifts from God, but it is in these moments that we are given an opportunity to trust in Our Lord, detach ourselves from the world, and to find hope where it is lacking.
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Faith Reflection | Hope-2025 | Jubilee of Hope | power of prayer
I’m writing this less than a week after Pope Leo XIV emerged on the balcony at St. Peter’s Square in Rome, following the announcement: “Habemus Papam!” By the time this reaches you, our new Holy Father will have been with us a few months, but right now, he’s still brand new, and I’ve been filled with an incredible hope. My hope is our new pope! On May 8, when the exciting avalanche of news began unfolding, I was recording a remote podcast and had to ignore the 43 texts that had arrived. On our short break, my guest, glancing at his phone, suddenly announced, “We have some surprising news! We have a pope, and he’s American!” My resulting gasp is fixed in perpetuity through the recording. Still, even without it, I’ll long remember where I was when I heard Cardinal Robert Prevost had been elected our new shepherd.
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Faith Reflection | Hope-2025 | Jubilee of Hope | power of prayer
For years now I have been praying the Litany of Trust by the Sisters of Life. I offer it nearly every morning, except when small children or a needy dog alter my routine. Then I do my best to pray it in the afternoon or at least before bed. The prayer itself is beautiful and powerful. I have written elsewhere about my experience coming to know it and how it helped me learn to concretely live out trust in the Lord. This prayer has become my go-to, something I’ve recommended to friends and family (and probably a few near strangers). Lines of it will come back to me in difficult moments, like a favorite song that offers comfort. This prayer brings me back to the relationship I want to have with God in reminding me of what I have surrendered to him and challenging me to give up what I continue to hold on to.
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